The View From The Cross

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place,when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”-Psalm 139:14

Sometimes, I just hate looking in the mirror. I see my hairline slowly disappearing. I notice that I have had an allergic reaction to all the food I have eaten in 33 years (almost 34) and it has caused my stomach to swell. I realize my beard is not as nice as Ryan Gosling’s (neither is my jawline).

We can all list things about ourselves that just don’t seem to be to our liking. Especially, now that the New Year is upon us, we tend to notice more that we probably wouldn’t have noticed before. As the kids would say, “#thestruggleisreal”.

The reality is, we will never be satisfied with how we look. We will always find something wrong that needs improvement. I can lose weight and be happy, but sooner or later I would notice my hands are too small. I could shave my head and look good bald, but then I would notice my eyebrows are too thick. We lack the ability to be content with anything about ourselves.

Perhaps, we should shift our view? What if we allowed ourselves to see what Christ saw from the cross?

When Christ went to the cross, He went for everyone. There was no stipulation. He died for His creation.

Jesus, the Son of God, God in the flesh, came to redeem His people by laying down His life on the cross. The very creature He made in His own image and said, “It is very good”, is who He sacrificed Himself for.

The beauty of His creation led Him to a disgraceful death.

He saw what we truly are in His eyes, “fearfully and wonderfully made”.

Perhaps this is what we need to see in the mirror?

Maybe, there’s some of us reading right now who need to hear that you’re beautiful in the eyes of your Creator? So beautiful that He bore the burden of ugly sin for you to be with Him in eternity.

Perhaps you bought into the lie that your beauty is surface level? After Jesus rose from the dead, He told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would come to dwell in them. He didn’t change their appearance on the outside, but the beauty was and is found on the inside. The splendor of our King dwells in us, which makes us filled with His magnificence.

It is hard to understand how we can still have a broken nature, yet our Father decided to live with us and in us, but He does! He doesn’t see us from a mirror, he sees us from the cross.

That’s beautiful!

May we rest in the beauty of the cross. May we find ourselves basking in the glory of Jesus. May we see beyond the surface and embrace the beauty within, found through Jesus and His sacrifice.

Finally, may we believe the truth of our God and Creator when He says, “It is very good!”.

Peace and blessings friends.

QUESTION: Do you see yourself as a beautifully and wonderfully made piece of Creation?